


Operation Bottle Bash

by pirateherokillian (Pirateherokillian)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 15:21:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14428404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pirateherokillian/pseuds/pirateherokillian
Summary: Emma comes to a troubling realization about Killian’s past and is determined to make it right. Written for the Captain Swan Spring Fic Formal 2018.





	Operation Bottle Bash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ForestIyari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForestIyari/gifts).



> Warning for alcohol use because this is me and I am so highly predictable at this point.

She’s embarrassed and a bit upset with herself that it’s never occurred to her until the moment it’s brought up in conversation. **  
**

They’re all gathered around the kitchen at her parents’ farm house, enjoying some quality ‘adult’ time post-her little brother’s third birthday bash. The toddler of honor is currently passed out in her father’s lap, oblivious to David’s gesturing as he regales them with memories from his own youthful birthday adventures on his parents’ farm.

“It obviously wasn’t much every year,” her father shrugs and throws an indulgent smile to his wife. “Certainly not a princess getting ponies.” Snow rolls her eyes, gesturing helplessly. “But Ruth did all she could to make it at least a little memorable.”

Emma smiles and nods, taking a sip from the glass of wine her mother had been quick to hand her once all the younger guests had left. Despite her rocky childhood, there were a few years where things had been a little memorable on her own birthday. Most weren’t, but the handful that did make some impact were nice to remember.

“What about you, Hook?” Snow asks after a moment of quiet. “I’m sure birthdays for a seafaring kid were interesting?”

It’s a kind and innocent question, one born out of pure curiosity. But it makes Emma tense as the cold sensation of dread and understanding hits her suddenly. She looks sharply to her right, where her husband had grown uncharacteristically quiet as the conversation had moved into the territory they now found themselves in.

Killian runs his tongue along his bottom lip, eyes intently staring into his own wine glass. Emma can see he’s trying to form his words carefully, his hook gently starting to brush back and forth over her knee where he’s had it resting. When he finally looks up, that small self-deprecating smile of his firmly in place, there’s an accepted sadness in his eyes that shoots right to Emma’s heart.

“I wish I could say either way,” He pauses to drain the rest of his wine, furrowing his brow as he swallows. “Alas,” Killian gives a small shake of his head as he leans forward to deposit the glass on the table before making to stand up. “There’s nothing to elaborate on in that regard.” He steps behind Emma’s chair, pausing a moment to place his hand on her shoulder and rest a kiss atop her head. She closes her eyes, reaching up to squeeze his fingers.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he finishes quietly, heading out of the kitchen.

Emma looks over her shoulder to watch him move down the hallway in the direction of the bathroom. It’s not until the soft click of the door closing behind Killian follows that the tense silence around where she remains sitting with her parents is broken.

“Oh Emma, I am so sorry.” Emma turns back to find her mother looking regretful. “I didn’t mean-”

With a shake of her head, Emma leans forward to place her wine down besides Killian’s empty glass. “It’s okay, mom.” When Snow shakes her head to refute, Emma holds up her hand. “Really, you couldn’t have known.” She offers her a smile, albeit a small and sad one, before glancing to the floor as she rises to her feet. She jerks her thumb over her shoulder. “I should probably go…”

Snow nods quickly, standing as well. “Yes, yes, go check on him.”

From where he’s remained sitting, scowling slightly following the unpleasant revelation, David nods as well. “And if he needs anything…”

Emma smiles more fully as the rest goes unspoken. “Thanks.” She turns and follows the same path her husband had gone down. Coming to a stop at the closed bathroom, she presses herself up against it and quietly listens for a moment.

When only silence follows, she gives the wood a light knock. “Babe, it’s me. Can I come in?”

“Aye, of course.” Killian replies instantly from the other side, his voice as soft as hers.

Emma grabs the knob, twisting and pushing the door open just enough for her to slip inside and ease it closed behind her. Killian is seated on the edge of the tub, watching her with a raw expression. Regret and embarrassment are heavy in his blue-eyed gaze.

“I’ll apologize to your parents…” He says helplessly, attention dropping to the floor. His thumb brushes over the bottoms of his rings, a habit of his when he’s nervous or agitated.

She steps over to him, stopping between his legs and brushing her fingers through his hair. He looks up to her sadly. “Killian, you have nothing to apologize for. It’s nobody’s fault, just…” She shrugs and shoulder and frowns. “A bad topic… which  _I_  probably should’ve realized. In fact, this whole day, with the party…” She glances up sharply, the self-focused anger from before rising up.

His hand is instantly on her hip, squeezing reassuringly. “Hey,” His soft, yet firm, tone brings her attention back down to his. “As you’ve just said, this is nobody’s fault.” A brief look of disgust flashes over his face. “At least not the fault of anyone here.” He pauses, catching his own darkening thoughts. He closes his eyes, pulling in a deep breath. His thumb rubs on a continuous loop over the fabric of her shirt bunched at her hip.

When she sees blue again, there’s a calmness Emma had only come to see in him since they’d grown close. “My past is what it is, for good or bad.” Killian licks at his lips and tilts his head. “And regardless of any of that, it all pales in comparison to my right now.” The affection she sees looking back at her makes her feel like she’s on fire in the best way possible. “What I have here, with you, and your mum and dad, and Henry…” He shrugs a shoulder. “That’s what matters.”

“Doesn’t mean the past doesn’t suck to remember,” Emma argues. “And that you don’t feel sad about it, which also sucks.”

“Aye, well…” Killian shrugs again, pushing himself up and wrapping his arms around her. She does the same to him, standing up on her tiptoes and burying her face against his neck. “I’ve grown quite used to the feeling.”

Emma squeezes him tightly. “But you shouldn’t have to.” She whispers fiercely, protectively, wanting nothing more in the world in that moment than to erase all the pain that has plagued this man who would, and had, moved heaven and earth to erase hers.

—-

And he  _didn’t_  have to, Emma realizes one Saturday morning when she finds herself inexplicably awake far earlier than is normally acceptable for a weekend…or ever. It’s been a week since her brother’s birthday party, and the uncomfortable turn the evening had taken, and she finds she hasn’t been able to let the thing go.

Because Killian  _shouldn’t_  have to carry the burden of his sucky past,  _especially_  when it’s a part of his past he had next to no say in. She almost smacks herself in the forehead for it taking her a damn week to realize she can erase the pain. Or at the very least, give him a memory for once that can overwrite a lifetime of nothingness. If Killian can move heaven and earth to bring her unending happiness, Emma Swan sure as hell can do the same for him.

Throwing back the comforter, Emma glances wildly around the room for her haphazardly discarded pajama pants from the night before. She finally sees them folded on the dresser she shares with Killian and it only increases her desire to do right by her man. Because of course he had wordlessly picked them up and neatly tucked them away that morning before he’d headed off before the sun was even up to tend to the Jolly Roger. Because that’s what Killian Jones does. He takes care of her.

Emma is determined to take care right back. She quickly moves to the dresser and hastily throws the cotton pants on before throwing open her bedroom door and making a beeline down the hallway to her son’s room. She doesn’t even second guess herself as she yanks open his door just as dramatically as she had her own and flings herself down onto his bed.

“I wanna throw Hook a birthday party,” Her voice is practically booming in the early morning quiet.

Henry jerks and groans at the interruption to his sleep, blinking owlishly at her from behind a mop of too-long hair. “Wha-?” He mumbles in confusion.

Emma brushes the hair back from his eyes. “Killian. He’s never had a birthday party before. Never had much of a birthday at all. And I wanna fix that.”

Pushing himself up on his elbows, Henry turns his head to squint towards the clock. “What time is it?”

“Time we give our pirate a party he deserves.”

Another groan echoes deep from within her teenager as he finally realizes  _just_  how early it still is. “Mom!” He flops back against the pillow, squeezing his eyes shut. “It’s not even eight-thirty!” He peeks one eye open to glare at her suspiciously. “Were you and Hook up drinking rum again last night?”

Emma rolls her eyes. “No.” Then she frowns and shakes her head. “Okay, yes, maybe a little.” At Henry’s third groan, she swats at his shoulder. “But I’m not drunk. I promise. I’m just-”

“Disgustingly in love with Captain Hook and hate how unfair his life has been and feel the need to fix it  _right now_  despite it being ass-o’clock on a Saturday morning?” Henry offers, hiding a wide yawn behind his hand. Emma quirks an eyebrow at his sass and his choice of phrasing. He merely shrugs in response. Deflating a little, Emma realizes maybe she is getting a little too far ahead of herself. Maybe it is too early on a Saturday to be thinking about a birthday party for a pirate who truthfully doesn’t like a lot of focus thrown his way and maybe…

“Ugh, fine!” Henry sighs loudly, sitting up again. “Operation Bottle Bash… I’m in. Just…  _please_  stop looking like grandma when people insult the idea of hope, okay?”

Straightening, Emma grins and nods. “Deal, kid.” Then she frowns. “Bottle Bash?”

Henry snorts. “‘Operation Pirate Birthday’ might give it away, mom.”

She squints at him and then nods in acquiescence, an eye roll thrown in for good measure.

“Can I go back to sleep now?” Henry questions pleadingly, turning the Charming mopey face on her this time.

Emma sighs and nods again. “Yeah, okay. Sorry for waking you up like this, kid.” She leans in and places a kiss to his forehead. “I just really like him, ya know?”

The teen turns on his side away from Emma. “Because the marriage and uncomfortable couch makeouts while I’m home haven’t given  _that_  away.” He mumbles into his pillow.

Swatting at the back of his head lightly, Emma gets up and makes her leave, making sure to close his door once more. Once in the hallway, with her desire to do  _something_  for Killian momentarily sated, she suddenly feels the earliness of the day creeping back up and decides Henry has the right idea about getting a little more sleep in. She returns to her own bed, not even bothering with undressing this time, and tucks the covers snuggly around her shoulders.

She’s just about asleep when the sound of pounding feet precedes the sudden bouncing of her bed. Emma flips over, staring wide-eyed at her son as he flops down next to her.

“I can’t get back to sleep, so you owe me cartoons and poptarts while the breakfast sheriff isn’t home.”

The Charming pout is back in full force on his maturing face and it’s Emma’s turn to groan. She buries her head into his hair and sighs. “Yeah, fine.” She relents, earning a cheer from her son. She manages to pull back in time just as he springs up and out of the bed, the kitchen his new destination. “But I get dibs on the last brown cinnamon sugar!” She calls after him, throwing back the comforter once again.

—-

Considering their man of honor is a centuries old former villain who has never had a party in celebration of him in his life, it’s surprisingly easy for them to put together something that Emma is certain he will love. It helps that she knows him just as well as he knows her. He’s really not that hard to please - the people he cares about, good rum, good food, entertainment worthy of a pirate captain such as he is. That all comes together really well, especially when people actively start volunteering to help out. It pleases Emma to no end that, despite what he may still believe from time to time, Killian is loved by the people of Storybrooke.

The hard part, it turns out, is keeping the whole thing as quietly under wraps as they can from Mr. Perceptive himself. It was obvious from the get go that the whole thing needed to be a surprise. That, for it to be right, Killian had to not suspect a thing. Because if he did, the whole ‘still believes he’s not worthy’ thing would come into play and Killian would go to great lengths to put a stop to it. Because to him, it wasn’t necessary. Emma needed him to not know what was coming so she could  _really_  show him just how much he mattered and how necessary the whole thing was.

Only, Killian Jones always seems to know what is coming.  _Especially_  when it comes to his Emma.

“I know you’re up to something, Swan.”

She minimizes the ‘rum party drinks’ search tab she is perusing, glancing over the top of her glasses and the screen of her laptop, which is resting atop her bent legs, to find her pirate leaning casually in the doorway to their bedroom.

Emma blinks innocently. “Is that so?”

Smirking, fingers fiddling with the end of his hook, Killian nods. “Aye.” He pushes off the doorframe and slowly starts to make his way towards her. “I know you’ve got this whole town in a frenzy. Everyone has a task, as is only expected of an  _operation_  put forth by that precocious offspring of yours.” He lowers himself onto the bed, pinning her with his hooked-arm against the mattress. “Everyone but your own husband.”

She hums curiously at his observation.

Killian hums back in a playful mock. “You don’t need to do this, Emma.” He cuts right to the chase, one eyebrow quirked as his expression turns serious. “I told you  _this_ ,” He reaches up and brushes a wild strand of hair that’s fallen from the messy bun she’s thrown it up into behind her ear. “Is all I need.”

Taking his hand in her own, Emma presses a kiss to his palm. “And maybe  _I need_  to do this for you?” She watches his lip quirk up slightly on the left side. “Will you let me keep doing this for you?”

He stares at her intently before lifting both eyebrows and shaking his head. “If I must.” He teases on a sigh, which causes her to laugh breathily. She accepts the kiss he leans in to give her a moment later.

But then pulls back as another important question comes to her.

“And you’ll still act surprised when it happens?”

Killian wrinkles his nose as something seems to occur to him. “When is it even happening? You already know I honestly couldn’t tell you-”

She puts a hand to his lips. “Answer my question, pirate.” Her own eyebrow jerks up slightly.

“Aye.” He mumbles with an eye roll. “I’ll feign surprise for the sake of this mad hamlet.” At her satisfied grin, Killian gives her his own ‘answer me’ stare. “But I reiterate, how can you know where to begin?”

Emma shrugs. “Is that important?”

A quiet moment passes between them as Killian searches her expression for something. He finds the earnestness he’s looking for and tilts his head to the side in acquiescence. “I suppose not.”

“Good.”

He nods, looking out the large window that faces the harbor. He squints in thought after a moment. “One more tiny question, if I may?” His blue eyes find her green and she raises the eyebrow once more. “Miniscule, really.”

Emma can already sense something behind his words. “Yeah?”

Scooting up the bed, moving more onto the mattress, Killian presses his forehead to hers. He braces himself with his hand on the headboard over her head so he can lightly tap his hook on the corner of the laptop still resting on her thighs. “Is  _this_  important?” He whispers huskily.

Biting at her bottom lip with a grin, Emma shrugs nonchalantly. “I suppose not.”

“Good.” Killian growls before gently shoving the laptop sideways onto the bed beside her and crushing his lips against hers.

—–

“He’s having a really good time. Looks really happy.”

Emma flinches as her mom’s voice breaks her from her observation of her husband. She glances from where her attention’s been focused on Killian on the other side of their living room to the woman now casually taking up a seat next to her at the kitchen table.

“Considering he’s probably ninety percent rum at this point…” Emma joked and Snow snorted into her glass of wine.

“I mean it, Emma.” Her mother gives her a serious look. “You took an unfortunate moment and turned it into all of this,” She gestured around them and the party that was in full swing. “And gave hope to something Killian always considered a lost cause. You’ve given him a good memory in place of only bad ones.”

Blushing, Emma shakes her head, waving a hand while she sips from the cup of ‘grog’ she’s holding in the other. “He’d do the same for me.”

“Yes, he would.” Snow replies matter-of-factly, without hesitation.

It causes Emma to grin outright.

“He’s not the only one who’s happy,” Snow lowers her voice and reaches out to give Emma’s knee a squeeze. “And that makes  _me_  happy.”

Emma nods in response. “Me too, mom. Very happy.”

“Who’s happy?”

Both women glance up to find a pirate swaggering his way over to them. Emma feels like her face is gonna split in two, her grin now making her cheeks ache at the sight of Killian Jones, most feared pirate in any realm, smiling goofily down at her with a ridiculous party hat perched precariously atop a head of wild dark hair more disheveled than usual.

“Looks like you, babe.”

Killian beams and nods, than holds out a finger as the movement makes him stumble a little. “Aye, that I am….” He clumsily eases down onto his knees in front of her and shuffles his way until he’s swaying between her legs. “And you know why?”

“Why?” Emma toys with the ends of the hair hanging over his forehead.

Wrapping his good arm around her waist, Killian rubs his nose against her cheek. She thinks he meant to brush it against her own nose, but the gesture still makes her heart flutter nonetheless.

“Because my gorgeous, stubborn, beautiful, amazing Swan was determined to throw an old pirate bastard a birthday party,” He mumbles, placing a sloppy kiss to her jawline before pulling back. Emma reaches out to wrap her hand around the back of his neck to steady him as he does. “Even  _though_  we don’t know when the bloody hell he was even born.”

Emma sees Snow’s eyes go wide and gives a minute shake of her head to indicate ‘not right now.’

Oblivious to the exchange, Killian laughs. “Also, Dave is so hilariously drunk.”

“Just David?” Snow teases.

Killian turns and points at her. “I can handle my rum, mum.” He breaks out in a grin again. “That rhymed.” A groan follows as he squeezes his eyes shut. He flops down onto his butt, and drops his head against Emma’s stomach. “Bloody hell,  _I_  am so hilariously drunk.”

Emma smiles lovingly, even as she knows she’s now likely on pirate babysitting duty for the rest of the evening, and adjusts the hat on her husband’s head. “Guess I know how to throw a helluva party, huh?”

Killian pulls his head back to give her a loving smile of his own. “That you do.” He turns and presses a kiss to her jean-clad thigh. “Thank you, my love, for not giving up on this.” He rest his cheek where he’d just kissed and looks up to her again. “On me.”

For the first real time since that night at her parents house, Emma feels the weight of falling short of doing right by Killian lift off her shoulders. It may have taken her a little time to get to that right place, but she’d gotten there nonetheless. And the man smiling dopily up at her is definitely a memory she’ll carry around instead.

“Happy birthday, Killian.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me as pirateherokillian on Tumblr, and pirateherojones on Twitter.


End file.
